Well one more camera to up the ante. The long expected Nikon D90 has been launched. The most interesting new feature I see is it's video ability, D-Moviehttp://www.nikon.com...=101-f52d144a59Oops sorry, I missed the earlier post. My apologies.

I find it very interesting that it is Nikon that has released the first DSLR with video capability; I was sure this would be Canon's thing. A couple of months ago I had a discussion with the Canon rep for the Southeastern US about where manufacturers where going with cameras now that digital quality had achieved or surpassed film quality by just about every measure, and his response was that a big new feature would be high quality video capture utilizing large sensors and ultimately RAW image capture, along the lines of the RED camera. Think about the possibilities of being able to choose exactly the right frame ultimately in a camera the size of the D90. I think this is about to be the hot new thing as the one-upmanship of Canon and Nikon continues, now that the MP playing field is leveling off.

I find it very interesting that it is Nikon that has released the first DSLR with video capability; I was sure this would be Canon's thing. A couple of months ago I had a discussion with the Canon rep for the Southeastern US about where manufacturers where going with cameras now that digital quality had achieved or surpassed film quality by just about every measure, and his response was that a big new feature would be high quality video capture utilizing large sensors and ultimately RAW image capture, along the lines of the RED camera. Think about the possibilities of being able to choose exactly the right frame ultimately in a camera the size of the D90. I think this is about to be the hot new thing as the one-upmanship of Canon and Nikon continues, now that the MP thing playing field is evening out.

I was talking about this with my brother-in-law Chris just the other day -- who will be the first to add HD movie capability to a DSLR? I was betting on either Sony or Oly, but Nikon would have been my last pick since they are generally pretty conservative. I'll bet a lot of marketing guys for the "other manufacturers" are on the phone to R&D this morning! Chris took a bunch of Manta night dive video with his Fuji F30 on our last outing and it is really quite good at 640x480 30fps. Having a DSLR with video is just a huge benefit. The D90 should very quickly become the amateur U/W camera of choice with these features. I know the movie mode and in-camera VR sealed the deal for me. DX instead of FX? No big deal, I have a bunch of DX-only lenses anyway.

Since the movie mode won't allow auto-focus, will the housing manufacturers start making ports with a manual focus knob again? It would actually be pretty cool to take video and manually zoom and focus. With two Ds-125's (or D200's whatever), I would just take off the diffusers and turn on both modeling lights for video! Those suckers are pretty darn bright without the diffusers. The mind boggles at the possibilities.

One other benefit from the D90; although I do have an above-water 18-200VR lens, I just bought a Nikon 70-300 without VR for that occasional far-off wildlife encounter. Glad I didn't spend $500 more for the VR version!

For all of you who complain about all the photoshop work, you haven't seen anything until you've tried to cope with editing underwater video. You'll need a vacation from your vacation. Seriously...

Video lighting is a bear. The strongest focus lights we have are toys compared to what videographers need. Plan on getting much more friendly with your magic filters (not that that's a bad thing).

Finally, you'll like your 10-17 much less with video than you do with still, but the 12-24's and 10-22's still work poorly at large apertures. Wide is important with video.

I don't think the HD video guys are too concerned just yet. I think the likely result of HD video on a DSLR underwater will be a renewed appreciation for just how difficult it is to do UW video well. ;-)

For all of you who complain about all the photoshop work, you haven't seen anything until you've tried to cope with editing underwater video. You'll need a vacation from your vacation. Seriously...

Video lighting is a bear. The strongest focus lights we have are toys compared to what videographers need. Plan on getting much more friendly with your magic filters (not that that's a bad thing).

Finally, you'll like your 10-17 much less with video than you do with still, but the 12-24's and 10-22's still work poorly at large apertures. Wide is important with video.

I don't think the HD video guys are too concerned just yet. I think the likely result of HD video on a DSLR underwater will be a renewed appreciation for just how difficult it is to do UW video well. ;-)

Craig,For me the exciting thing is not so much being able to do video, if I really want to do that I will use a video camera. (Unless I come across something special and unexpected underwater). I think what may be ultimately more interesting for the still shooter will be the ability to choose exactly the frame you want in an action sequence. I do not know to what degree, if any, the D90 will provide this flexibility, but I think that's where it's headed. Another possibility will be expanded HDR abilities.

One other benefit from the D90; although I do have an above-water 18-200VR lens, I just bought a Nikon 70-300 without VR for that occasional far-off wildlife encounter. Glad I didn't spend $500 more for the VR version!

I have the 18-200VR lens as well. Its probably obvious to others but what is wrong with a VR lens with the D90?

It will be interesting to see how the current VR lenses work on the D90. You probably don't want both systems active. I'm sure they will be a software switch to turn in-camera VR off. Non-VR may not work quite as well as a lens with it built in since they are probably accomplishing it through software rather than by using a combination of mechanical gyros and software in the lens.

I really love the 18-200mm VR for above-water. I can hand-hold a 1/8 second shot at dusk with that lens fully out at 200mm and it will actually look pretty darn good!

The worst part about the D90 is we'll probably be sitting here speculating about how good or bad it is for at least 3-5 more months

...where did you see VR was built into the D90 body? ....I must have missed that

8-28-08 EDIT/UPDATE: I was WRONG about the VR! Yes, with VR lenses you have it, but NO, it isn't built in!

VR is indeed built in, but I see the kit lens you get at $1299 is ALSO a VR lens, so apparently you can have VR both places. Personally I'd buy the body alone for $999, though.

I'm impressed with the camera, very. VERY IMPRESSED. I wish it used CF cards though... to share with D200 etc, and because the throughput is faster. And really, I'm kinda hard pressed to say what about the D200 would warrant the extra size and weight if I had both!